PETA’s Australian wool boycott moves full-speed ahead as it celebrates what can only be seen as the beginning of the end of the cruel mulesing mutilation. 
 In Australia, where more than 50 percent of the world’s merino wool—which is used in products ranging from clothing to carpets—comes from, lambs are forced to endure a gruesome procedure called mulesing, in which huge chunks of skin and flesh are cut from the animals’ backsides, without any painkillers. When their wool production declines, some sheep are shipped to the Middle East on crowded multilevel ships. These journeys, which can last for months, are to countries where animal welfare standards are non-existent. The suffering sheep are dragged off the ships, loaded onto trucks, and dragged by their ears and legs to unregulated slaughterhouses, where their throats are slit while they are still conscious.

Sheep are gentle individuals who, like all animals, feel pain, fear, and loneliness. But because there is a market for their fleece and skins, they are treated as nothing more than wool-producing machines. No amount of fluff can hide the fact that anyone who buys wool supports a cruel and bloody industry. There are plenty of durable, stylish, and warm fabrics available that aren’t made from animal skins. Please join the millions of people all over the world who know that compassion is the fashion. Save a sheep—don’t buy wool.

The above is an excerpt from PETA . The one thing that continues to baffle me is how cruel human beings can be. I don’t think it matters if they are from a advanced or third world country some people are still primitive/sadistic. These are the same people who go to temples/churches/mosques with thier wife and children. Somehow humans have started to believe that they are above all the other species in this planet. Every single organism in this planet has a purpose and the more violations humans commit the mor e unsafe it will be for our future generation. The case of the vanishing bees is a good example.

I can understand the need to kill other species sometimes for food or for any other purpose . I think that is the way nature has set things up but what pains me most is the way man goes about doing this . The wool industry is another classic example when there are so many ways to do this the right way they have chosen the most cruelest and inhumane alternative possible to extract wool from these poor animals without any conscience. Animals in particular cats (all) and killer whales have a tendency to play (read as torture) with thier prey before killing them but they are “animals” and I am absolutely certain that they don’t realize the consequence of thier choice but humans understand the pain they are inflicting on these poor animals .

The next time you start writhing in your seat when watching a horror movie where a stupid teenager gets mauled by a psychopath you have to realize it is just a movie and think about the sheep and how they are being killed in the most sadistic way possible for absoultey no reason. I am sure you can make a diffrence - Don’t buy wool.

Cruel acts toward animals have long been recognized as indicators of a dangerous psychopathy that often claims more than animal victims. “Murderers … very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids,” according to Robert K. Ressler, who developed profiles of serial killers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).(1) Studies have now convinced sociologists, lawmakers, law enforcement officials, and the courts that acts of cruelty to animals deserve our attention. They can be the first sign of a violent pathology that includes human victims.

 Cruelty to Animals: The First of Many Crimes? Acts of cruelty to animals are not mere indications of a minor personality flaw in the abuser; they are symptomatic of a deep mental disturbance. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals don’t stop there—many of them move on to their fellow humans.

Studies have shown that violent and aggressive criminals are more likely to have abused animals as children than criminals considered non-aggressive.

A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found that all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well.According to a New South Wales newspaper, a police study in Australia revealed that “100 percent of sexual homicide offenders examined had a history of animal cruelty.” To researchers, a fascination with cruelty to animals is a red flag in the lives of serial killers and rapists; according to the FBI’s Ressler, “These are the kids who never learned it’s wrong to poke out a puppy’s eyes.”Examples That Make the Headlines: Notorious Killers History is replete with serial killers whose violent tendencies were first directed at animals. Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler,” who killed 13 women, trapped dogs and cats and shot arrows at them through boxes in his youth. Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer had impaled frogs, cats, and dogs’ heads on sticks. Dennis Rader, the so-called “BTK” killer, who terrorized people in Kansas, wrote in a chronological account of his childhood that he hanged a dog and a cat. During the trial of convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, a psychology professor testified that the teenager, who killed 10 people with a rifle, had “pelted—and probably killed—numerous cats with marbles from a slingshot when he was about 14.”The deadly violence that has shattered schools in recent years has, in most cases, begun with cruelty to animals. High-school killers such as 15-year-old Kip Kinkel in Springfield, Oregon, and Luke Woodham, 16, in Pearl, Mississippi, tortured animals before starting their shooting sprees.Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who shot and killed 12 classmates before turning their guns on themselves, spoke of mutilating animals to their classmates.“There is a common theme to all of the shootings of recent years,” says Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, director of the Child Study Center at New York University. “You have a child who has symptoms of aggression toward his peers, an interest in fire, cruelty to animals, social isolation, and many warning signs that the school has ignored.”

Sadly, many of these criminals’ childhood violence went unexamined—until it was directed at humans. ‘The Link’ Next Door: Cruelty to Animals and Family Violence Because abusers target the powerless, crimes against animals, spouses, children, and the elderly often go hand in hand. Children who abuse animals may be repeating a lesson learned at home; like their parents, they are reacting to anger or frustration with violence. Their violence is directed at the only individual in the family more vulnerable than themselves: an animal.

Parents who neglect or abuse an animal frequently subject their own children to similar hardships.  The Boston Police Department partners with the New England Animal Control/Humane Task Force to detect and respond to domestic violence associated with cruelty investigations. The New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women works with animal control to identify signs of domestic violence. Additionally, children should be taught to care for and respect animals in their own right. After an extensive study of the links between animal abuse and human abuse, two experts concluded, “The evolution of a more gentle and benign relationship in human society might be enhanced by our promotion of a more positive and nurturing ethic between children and animals.”

 What You Can Do

• Urge your local school, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and judges to take cruelty to animals seriously. Those charged with protecting our communities and animals must send a strong message that violence against any feeling creature—human or nonhuman—is unacceptable.
• Be aware of signs of neglect or abuse in children and animals and immediately report suspected crimes to authorities.
• Take children seriously if they report that animals are being neglected or mistreated.

Some children won’t talk about their own suffering but will talk about an animal’s.  Don’t ignore even minor acts of cruelty to animals by children. Talk to the child and the child’s parents. If necessary, call a social worker.

Original Source : PETA

Show ‘Dancing’ Bears That You Really Care Created by an award-winning advertising agency, this frightful flick is a spine-tingling tale of terror and torture.

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/dancing_bears

Want to know the scariest thing of all? “Dancing” bears in Pakistan and India are mercilessly mutilated just like this when they are barely a year old. No animal should have to endure this type of abuse. Never patronize roadside bear shows, and when traveling in India and Pakistan, if you see tourists encouraging such a show, speak to them about the cruelty.

If you see someone forcing a bear to “dance,” report the incident to the closest police station. Even though it is illegal to capture bears in both India and Pakistan, more than 1,600 sloth bears are being forced to “dance” by madaris—the people who capture and keep the bears. Bear cubs—who are barely 1 year old—squeal in agony as red-hot needles are jabbed through their noses and thick ropes are forced through the throbbing wounds. When the ropes are tugged, the bears lift their legs and “dance.” Most of their teeth are pulled out, and they are forced to perform for up to 12 hours a day.

Bears are “trained” to dance through a regime of pain and starvation. Many cubs die before the training begins because of the stress of capture, the terrible transportation conditions, starvation, dehydration, and rough handling. Although bears used in these acts would live up to 30 years in the wild, they rarely live more than eight years in captivity. Please write to the environmental ministers of Pakistan and India and urge them to enforce laws that prevent bear-baiting and to prosecute madaris.

Cruel Training
For animals in circuses, there is no such thing as “positive reinforcement”—only varying degrees of punishment and deprivation. Animals do not voluntarily ride bicycles, stand on their heads, or jump through rings of fire. They don’t perform these and other difficult tricks because they want to; they perform because they’re afraid not to. For information about specific circuses, click here.

Circuses easily get away with routine abuse because no government agency monitors training sessions. Trainers use bullhooks, whips, sticks, electric prods, and other tools that intentionally cause pain and injury in order to force animals to perform. Undercover footage of behind-the-scenes training shows elephants beaten with bullhooks and shocked with electric prods, big cats dragged by heavy chains around their neck and hit with sticks, bears whacked and prodded with long poles, and chimpanzees kicked and hit with riding crops.

Constant Confinement
Ringling Bros. boasts that its two units travel more than 25,000 miles as they tour across the country for 11 months each year. Constant travel means that animals are confined to boxcars and trailers for days at a time in extremely hot and cold weather, often without access to basic necessities, such as food, water, and veterinary care.

Some elephants spend almost their whole lives shackled. One study of traveling circuses observed an elephant who spent up to 96 percent of her time in chains. Tigers and lions usually live and travel in cages 4 feet high by 7 feet long by 7 feet wide, with two big cats crammed into a single cage. Big cats, bears, and primates are forced to eat, drink, sleep, defecate, and urinate in the same cramped cages.

Public Danger
Frustrated by years of beatings, bullhooks, and shackles, some elephants snap. And when an elephant rebels against a trainer’s physical dominance, trainers cannot protect themselves, let alone the public.

In 1994, an elephant killed her trainer and injured 12 spectators before being gunned down by almost 100 bullets while running terrified through downtown Honolulu. In 1992, officer Blayne Doyle had to shoot Janet, an elephant who charged out of the Great American Circus arena with five children on her back. In speaking before members of Congress about the dangers of elephant rampages, Doyle lamented, “I have discovered, much to my alarm, that, once an elephant goes out of control, nothing can be done. It is not a predictable or preventable accident. The only thing that can be done—and even this is a danger to the public—is to get a battery of police officers in with heavy weapons and gun the elephant down.” Click here to read more about the risks of performing animal attacks.

Circus Bans
Because of concerns about animal mistreatment and public safety, a growing number of communities are banning or restricting the use of animals in circuses. Click here for a complete list.

Animal-Free Circuses
The Latest Shows on Earth—the Cirque du Soleil, the New Pickle Family Circus, Cirque Éloize, and others—are exciting and innovative circuses that dazzle audiences without animal acts. Click here for a list of animal-free circuses.

You can help stop the suffering of elephants, tigers, and other animals abused in the name of “entertainment.” Click here to support PETA’s vital work.

Actual URL : http://www.circuses.com/introduction.asp

I was reminded of Chris Rock’s comment on one of his HBO shows where he was commenting on an circus event where a tiger bit the head of the performer (Roy Horn of the duo Siegfried & Roy). That tiger didn’t go crazy,” Rock says emphatically. “That tiger went tiger!”  I went to circuses when I was young but if so much damage is done to the animals just to make us laugh I think I can only look at us (humans) in shame. But Yeah! there is this GOD guy so all will be forgiven if they (the humans responsible for these crimes and the humans who support them by watching animals perform) kiss his ass.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a nonprofit interest group whose goal is to end all animal exploitation, is the largest animal rights organization in the world. Founded in 1980, PETA has more than a million members and an annual budget of $25 million.

As calls continue to come in from distraught and angry animal guardians who believe that their animals died after eating dry foods that have not yet been recalled, PETA is calling for criminal investigations into Iams, Menu Foods, and other companies to determine if there were delays that may have caused more suffering and deaths of animals. Keep checking back here for updates on the massive pet food recall.

For more information on what to do if your animal companion has become sick, click here. For more information about the recall and what you can do, click here.

April 5, 2007: Recall Expands as Lawmakers Demand Answers

Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. Many of us bought our beloved “pets” at pet shops, had guinea pigs, and kept beautiful birds in cages. We wore wool and silk, ate McDonald’s burgers, and fished. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?

In his book Animal Liberation, Peter Singer states that the basic principle of equality does not require equal or identical treatment; it requires equal consideration. This is an important distinction when talking about animal rights. People often ask if animals should have rights, and quite simply, the answer is “Yes!” Animals surely deserve to live their lives free from suffering and exploitation. Jeremy Bentham, the founder of the reforming utilitarian school of moral philosophy, stated that when deciding on a being’s rights, “The question is not ‘Can they reason?’ nor ‘Can they talk?’ but ‘Can they suffer?’” In that passage, Bentham points to the capacity for suffering as the vital characteristic that gives a being the right to equal consideration. The capacity for suffering is not just another characteristic like the capacity for language or higher mathematics. All animals have the ability to suffer in the same way and to the same degree that humans do. They feel pain, pleasure, fear, frustration, loneliness, and motherly love. Whenever we consider doing something that would interfere with their needs, we are morally obligated to take them into account.

Supporters of animal rights believe that animals have an inherent worth—a value completely separate from their usefulness to humans. We believe that every creature with a will to live has a right to live free from pain and suffering. Animal rights is not just a philosophy—it is a social movement that challenges society’s traditional view that all nonhuman animals exist solely for human use. As PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk has said, “When it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. Each one values his or her life and fights the knife.”

Only prejudice allows us to deny others the rights that we expect to have for ourselves. Whether it’s based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or species, prejudice is morally unacceptable. If you wouldn’t eat a dog, why eat a pig? Dogs and pigs have the same capacity to feel pain, but it is prejudice based on species that allows us to think of one animal as a companion and the other as dinner

Original Link : http://www.peta.org/about/WhyAnimalRights.asp.

PETA has contacted hundreds of companion-animal food companies, asking if they conduct laboratory tests on animals. Numerous companies responded to let us know that they do not. We have compiled a list of those companies below. View the first letter, follow-up letter, and survey sent to companion-animal food companies.

Companies that are not on this list either responded to let us know that they do conduct laboratory experiments on animals or failed to respond to our numerous inquiries and are assumed to conduct laboratory experiments on animals.

ctive Life Pet Products
1-877-291-2913
www.activelifepp.com

Amoré Pet Services, Inc.
1-866-572-6673
www.amorepetfoods.com

Animal Food Services
1-800-743-0322
www.animalfood.com

Artemis Pet Food—NEW
1-800-282-5876
www.artemiscompany.com

Azmira Holistic Animal Care
1-800-497-5665
www.azmira.com

Burns Pet Health, Inc.
1-877-983-9651
www.burnspethealth.com

Canusa International
519-624-5697
www.canusaint.com

CountryPet Pet Food
1-800-454-7387
www.countrypet.com

Dr. Harvey’s
1-866-362-4123
www.drharveys.com

Dry Fork Milling Co.
1-800-346-1360

Dynamite Marketing, Inc.
208-887-9410
www.dynamitemarketing.com

Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Co., Inc.
1-800-288-6796
www.evangersdogfood.com

Evolution Diet, Inc. (entirely vegan)
1-800-659-0104
www.petfoodshop.com

Good Dog Foods, Inc.
732-842-4555
www.gooddogfoods.com

GreenTripe.Com
831-726-3255
www.greentripe.com

Halo, Purely for Pets
1-800-426-4256
www.halopets.com

Happy Dog Food
1-800-359-9576
www.happydogfood.com

Harbingers of a New Age (entirely vegan)
406-295-4944
www.vegepet.com

Holistic Blend
1-800-954-1117
www.holisticblend.com

The Honest Kitchen
858-483-5995
www.thehonestkitchen.com

Know Better Dog Food
1-866-922-6463
www.knowbetterdogfood.com

KosherPets, Inc.
954-938-6270
www.kosherpets.com

Kumpi Pet Foods
303-699-8562
www.kumpi.com

Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc. (has vegan options)
1-800-829-4493
www.naturalbalanceinc.com

Natural Life Pet Products, Inc. (has vegan options)
1-800-367-2391
www.nlpp.com

Nature’s Variety
1-888-519-7387
www.naturesvariety.com

Newman’s Own Organics—NEW
www.newmansownorganics.com

PetGuard (has vegan options)
1-800-874-3221
904-264-8500
www.petguard.com

Pied Piper Pet & Wildlife
1-800-338-4610
www.piedpiperpet.com

PoshNosh Inc.
613-747-1542
1-866-893-4006 (Outside Ottawa-Outaouais)

Raw Advantage, Inc.
360-387-5158
www.rawadvantagepetfood.com

Rocky Mountain Natural Products
1-877-768-6788 (Eastern U.S.)
1-800-665-5521 (Western U.S.)
www.rmtnp.com

Sauder Feeds, Inc.
260-627-2196
www.sauderfeeds.com

Stella & Chewy’s LLC—NEW
718-522-9673
www.stellaandchewys.com

Timberwolf Organics, Inc.
407-877-8779
www.timberwolforganics.com

V-dogfood LLC (entirely vegan)—NEW
1-888-280-8364
www.V-dogfood.com

Veterinary Nutritional Formula
1-800-811-0530
www.vnfpetfood.com

Wow-Bow Distributors Ltd. (has vegan options)
1-800-326-0230
www.wow-bow.com

Wysong Professional Diets (has vegan options)
1-800-748-0188
www.wysong.net

Cartier, the company best-known for its high-end jewelry, sponsored an absurd event in which elephants were made to play polo in Jaipur, India, on Saturday, November 18. Elephants who are forced to participate in such events are captured from the wild and taken away from their families and homes. In order to force them to play polo, elephants are cruelly beaten with sharp metal bullhooks and are kept chained up.

Please demand that Cartier stop sponsoring elephant polo. Let the company know that Cartier can find other ways to promote its fine jewelry without causing harm to animals.

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/cartier